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Even Jack Nicklaus, who at
first chastised the players
for withdrawing from the
Olympics, felt they owed
the game their time and
effort to compete in Rio. He
recently changed his opinion,
however, and said so in an
interview with
Alex Butler from UPI,“I started thinking more
about it and thought maybe
I shouldn’t have said that
because it’s not about that.
They aren’t about growing
golf right now. They are
into playing golf. I’m into
growing golf because I’m
past my time. I look to the
future of what happens to it.
These guys are thinking ‘How
do I make a living, how do I
perform?’ If they get sick,
and then all of the sudden
they have a family that gets
sick, then they’ve got another
issue other than what they
are trying to do...making a
living in golf and being able
to perform at their best and
highest level.”
Every athlete knows that their
time at the top of their sport
will be limited and they must
make the best of it. The FedEx
Cup is offering $34 million in
total prize money for the four
tournaments and another $35
million in bonus pool money,
to be distributed among the
top players at the end of the
playoffs. $69million is serious
money for any athlete.
With the Olympics scheduled
just twoweeks prior to the start
of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, the
timing could not be worse.
JackNicklausmayhavechanged
his mind about today’s best
golfers foregoing the opportunity
to compete for a gold medal at
the 2016 Rio Olympics, but if
he,ArnoldPalmer orGary Player
would have had the opportunity
to compete in the Olympics, I
bet they would have run to the
first tee.
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